


i just had a growth spurt (took so long, my tippy toes hurt)

by Talls



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron just got a new brother, Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Family Fluff, First Crush, Fluff, Healing, Kid Fic, POV Aaron Minyard, References to Lil Nas X, and a new parent, and a new school, kids being kids, things are confusing and being a kid is hard sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 05:50:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20204752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talls/pseuds/Talls
Summary: “He’s looking at calendars,” Andrew intones, like he’s sentencing someone to death, and Aaron gasps.“A playdate,” Aaron whispers. Andrew flinches. “Again?”“He just won’t give up,” Andrew says.Aaron grits his teeth. “We’ll have to make him,” he says, and Andrew nods grimly.*In which twins scheme against the wishes of their older cousin to be left alone for the last few days of school before summer vacation.Featuring a lovely school nurse, the weird kid, Matt Boyd's weak stomach, two important libraries and a blushing teacher's pet.





	i just had a growth spurt (took so long, my tippy toes hurt)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/gifts).

> Written for the AFTG exchange for the prompt: Nicky gets the twins when they are much younger (age gap is bigger) and he wants to give them the best summer vacation they have ever had. I interpreted that slightly more loosely, but I hope you enjoy it anyways! I feel like this also a little bit counts as an anniversary present :)
> 
> title from Chance the Rapper's Angel which is an excellent summer bop. thanks to ly (adverbialstarlight) for the beta, and thank you to ruby for being a legendary cheerleader.

“Nicky is planning things,” Andrew says right over Aaron’s body, voice ominous. Aaron yelps, sliding up against his headboard in fright. 

“Why are you in my room?” Aaron hisses. 

“I just told you,” Andrew says, impatient at having to repeat himself. “Nicky is planning things, and we need to counter-plan.” 

“Why do we need to counter-plan? What is he planning in the first place?” Aaron asks, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Now that the fear is out of his system, Aaron remembers that it’s the middle of the night and he’s very tired. The lights are out, and Andrew is only a silhouette in the darkness of his bedroom. He could be Aaron’s doppelganger, here to kill Aaron and take his place or his body or something. Aaron read about those in a book. Andrew leans to the side and switches on Aaron’s astronaut lamp. 

“He thinks we’re not social enough,” Andrew says, and Aaron freezes. “Is that enough of a problem for you, or do you not remember the last time he tried to fix our social skills?”

Aaron remembers. Nicky invited Matthew Boyd from Aaron’s class over and Andrew gave him so much Halloween candy that he had a sugar crash and threw up in the bathroom. He cried. His mom had to come get him. It was really bad. 

“Okay, so he’s planning again,” Aaron says, mind racing. “What could he be planning?” 

“I don’t know. I just know he’s on the phone a lot,” Andrew says, eyebrows pinched together in the middle. It’s weird to see his face doing things that Aaron’s own doesn’t do. 

“Nicky’s always on the phone,” Aaron says.

It’s because of the boyfriend, Erik. Nicky has a boyfriend. He talks about it a lot. Aaron doesn’t think he wants a boyfriend, or even a girlfriend. Everyone in his class is very annoying, except for the teacher, Mr. Rhemann. Andrew says his teacher, Mr. Wymack, is also really annoying, but he gets angry at Aaron whenever Aaron says it too, so Andrew probably likes him. 

“Yeah, but he’s not on the phone with Erik. When he’s on the phone with Erik, he laughs like a girl on Teen Nick and locks himself in his room,” Andrew says, and Aaron nods, because that’s true. “He’s looking at calendars,” Andrew intones, like he’s sentencing someone to death, and Aaron gasps. 

“A playdate,” Aaron whispers. Andrew flinches. “Again?” 

“He just won’t give up,” Andrew says.

Aaron grits his teeth. “We’ll have to make him,” he says, and Andrew nods grimly. 

“We have to make a pact,” Andrew says. Aaron cocks his head to the side. “We have to promise that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure Nicky doesn’t invite someone over in the last days of school.”

“Or worse, throw a school’s out party,” Aaron says. They shudder simultaneously. 

“Deal,” Andrew says. He puts out his hand and Aaron shakes it. “From now on, we are brothers in arms,” he says in a fake-deep voice, before hightailing it out of Aaron’s room, somehow making no noise. 

“But we’re brothers in real life,” Aaron says to the empty room. 

* 

“So what’s your plan?” Aaron asks over breakfast. Andrew glares and looks meaningfully at Nicky, who is dancing over an omelette in the kitchen and singing obnoxiously loud to Ariana Grande. “It’s not like he can hear us,” Aaron says, rolling his eyes and bopping his head to the beat of the song.

Andrew narrows his eyes. “The only reason he wants to invite someone over is because he thinks we’re haven’t made any friends at school,” he finally says after Nicky absolutely beefs it on a high note. 

“He’s right, technically,” Aaron points out, but Andrew just waves him off. 

“That’s some antics,” he says. Aaron isn’t sure that’s how you say it, but it’s not like he knows any better. “The point is, I just have to make friends with the weird kid in my class and tell Nicky I made a friend,” Andrew says before taking a big bite of his omelette.

Old Town Road starts playing and Andrew taps his feet against the legs of his stool against the beat. 

“Andrew, do you want another omelette?” Nicky asks. Andrew shakes his head no. “Aaron?” Aaron shakes his head too. “Did you know that the singer of this song is gay? This should be a lesson for both of you. Everything good and cool in the world is gay.” He plates an omelette for himself and sits between them on the bar. 

“I didn’t know that,” Andrew says, in a practiced bored tone, but the fact he said anything at all is a sign that he’s interested. Aaron narrows his eyes at Andrew. Maybe Andrew wants a boyfriend. That would be so weird.

They don’t really talk as they wait for Nicky to finish his breakfast and bundle them off into the car. 

Nicky keeps the radio on in the car, loud enough that Aaron and Andrew can talk in the backseat without being overheard. 

“I was thinking,” Aaron starts, and Andrew pries open an eye to look at him, “that making friends with the weird kid in your class might be a mistake.” Andrew opens the other eye and turns to Aaron. “What if Nicky invites him over?” 

“His uncle never lets him leave the house. When he transferred, everyone invited him over and he always said no, so everyone left him alone,” Andrew says. Aaron’s eyes widen. Andrew’s plan is really smart, actually. 

“There’s nobody in my class that’s like that,” Aaron says.

Andrew closes his eyes again. “That sounds like a you problem,” he says primly.

Aaron glares, but Andrew’s eyes are closed so he can’t see him. Aaron punches him in the arm. “Smart car, no punch backs,” he says before Andrew can retaliate. Andrew looks around for the car, but Nicky has just blown through an intersection a lot faster than he should have. Andrew glares, but Aaron just settles back into his own seat, content in his victory. 

*

Aaron looks around his classroom during snacktime and despairs. There’s only three people in the class that he can stand, and they have playdates all the time.

Dan Wilds hates Aaron and Andrew ever since Matt threw up at their house, which doesn’t even make sense because it wasn’t Aaron’s fault. Sara Alvarez and Laila Dermott are smart but they only ever hang out with each other and last year they kicked sand into Aaron’s moat during recess, which was really annoying. 

There’s always Katelyn or Kevin, the two teachers’ kids who never get invited anywhere ever, but Kevin is really obsessed with a weird sport from Japan, and Aaron is okay with talking about it sometimes, but not every day. Katelyn is way, way too shy. 

Aaron is also pretty shy, but even he’s not this shy. Katelyn has a few friends, but she almost never talks in class, even though Aaron sits next to her and knows she knows all the answers to every question. She’s really smart, but whenever Aaron tries to ask for help, she always goes red and starts chewing on her hair, and the conversation dies there. 

It sucks though, because she’s actually kind of cool. She likes to play with the roly-polies during recess and she’s surprisingly good at four-square, even if she’s pretty bad at kickball, and Aaron thinks he’d like to hang out with her if he had to hang out with anyone else in his class. 

“Can I borrow your pencil sharpener?” he asks.

Katelyn goes bright red and slouches in her chair, nibbling on the end of one of her two braids. Aaron looks at his broken pencil tip in resignation, until he sees her Princess Leia pencil sharpener land on his desk. He turns and sees Katelyn almost entirely under her desk.

“Thanks,” Aaron says, focusing on his pencil to get it perfectly sharp. He hears a squeak and then a thump as Katelyn collapses on the ground. 

“Katie, please get up,” Mr. Rhemann says, and Aaron hears a muttered ‘sorry dad’ as Katelyn crawls back up, studiously avoiding Aaron’s eyes. 

It’s technically progress. 

*

Aaron asks to go to the nurse’s office right before silent reading, claiming an upset stomach. Mr. Rhemann narrows his eyes before giving him a filled out nurse’s slip. It’s not worth it to restrict access to the nurse’s when there’s only, like, three days left in school total. Aaron clutches his treasure in his hand as he walks through the mostly empty halls. The nurse’s office is only a few halls down from Aaron’s homeroom, which is a small distance to paradise. 

Aaron thinks that heaven on Earth is the nurse’s office. Back in Oakland, most of the school nurses were mean and overworked, content to leave Aaron bruised and alone in dark rooms that smelled like the wipes nurses use before you get a shot. The head nurse at Palmetto Elementary, Dr. Abby, is an actual angel. She has long blonde hair she wears in a rope-like braid down her back, she gives big hugs, and she’s really funny for a grown-up. 

Aaron came in for the first time after he and Andrew got in a fight during recess, and Andrew went, furious and mostly unharmed, to the school counselor. Dr. Abby gave Aaron a lollipop and let him lie down on a cot with a blanket and talked to him for an hour. She never made him feel dumb, and she gave him a Flash bandaid for the scrape on his knee.

Now he visits once in a while to get a packet of crackers and a tiny can of ginger ale, and they talk for fifteen minutes, ten if another kid comes in. 

“Hello, Aaron,” Dr. Abby says. “Another stomachache?” 

“Yes ma’am, sorry,” Aaron says. 

“Don’t apologize, dear, I want you to feel comfortable and safe to come here whenever you feel bad,” she says kindly, like she always does. She stands up and writes something down on the check-in clipboard. “It’s almost summer isn’t it? Are you excited?” 

“Not really,” Aaron says, walking to one of the cots next to the check-in desk. “Nicky’s working all summer, so we’re not going anywhere. I think Kevin’s convincing Andrew to join an Exy team, so I might join that too.” 

“Oh, are Kevin and Andrew friends now?” Dr. Abby asks, confused. Dr. Abby is best friends with Mr. Wymack, so she knows Kevin really well. It makes sense that she knows about the feud Kevin and Andrew had literally three days ago. 

Kevin transferred late this year from a private school, Edgar Allen Academy, after his parents got divorced and his mom left to move Exy from Japan to America. He had been really mean to Andrew for a couple weeks, saying that Andrew “wasn’t performing to his potential,” whatever that means. Andrew responded by fistfighting him on the playground, putting tacks on his seat, and stealing his homework before he could turn it in. 

A week ago, Mr. Wymack finally had enough of both of them being horrible, so he put them in time-out together in the closet during free time. By the time he let them out, they had made a ‘friendship pact’ and promised to never leave each other’s sides, which made carpool super annoying for Aaron. 

Unfortunately, Nicky thinks Mr. Wymack is ‘kinda cute in a dad way’ so Andrew can’t say he’s friends with Kevin, or there’ll be a playdate again, and everything will go very badly for everyone. 

“Kinda,” is all Aaron says in response to her question though, because if she asks any follow-ups, he won’t be able to answer. Andrew is just as confusing to him as he is to everyone else. 

“Any plans for the end of school? Any parties?” Dr. Abby asks as she hands him a small Canada Dry and some Saltines. 

“No,” Aaron says, fiddling with the metal tab of the soda. “I don’t really want to go to any parties,” he admits, voice small. “I don’t like being around a lot of people.”

“That makes sense,” is all she says. “You don’t have to hang out with people if you don’t want to.” 

“I don’t think my cousin would believe you,” Aaron says. He sees it, in the tight lines of Nicky’s shoulders, and the way he hugs Aaron too tightly and the way he never hugs Andrew at all, that he thinks they’re messed up. Aaron thinks it too. 

He was weird in Oakland, always skinnier than the other kids, always a little hungrier, always a little more bruised. There were times Aaron just wanted to disappear into the walls, so nobody would notice him, so nobody would ask any questions. He never had to worry about people coming over, in Oakland. Nobody’s parents would let their kids around Aaron’s mom. Not even Andrew wanted to deal with Aaron’s mom, and Andrew didn’t even have a mom. 

“Your cousin probably doesn’t have a degree in child psychology,” Dr. Abby says. “You get socialized at home with your brother, and you do have friends here. If you weren’t meeting developmental milestones, it’d be a different story, but you’re more mature than a lot of your peers. You’re just a smart introverted kid, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Aaron looks down. “Aaron, there’s nothing wrong with you.” Her voice is much more gentle than it was before, like she’s talking to a skittish horse or another nervous animal. 

“Okay,” he says, aware that it’s not the yes ma’am she wants, and bracing for her response.

She doesn’t even get a little bit angry, just nods. “If you want me to say the same to your cousin before school ends, let me know,” she says, before going back to her desk. 

“It’s fine,” Aaron says before looking up and trying for a smile. She beams back at him, the crinkles by her eyes folding up until her whole face is smiling. Another kid comes in, so Aaron finishes his drink and saves his crackers in his pocket as a snack for later. 

“Bye, Aaron,” Dr. Abby says as he tries to leave without bothering her. “If I don’t see you before school’s end, have a happy summer.”

He waves back, and walks back to his classroom.

Halfway there, he spots Andrew in the hall. “Where are you going?” he asks. 

“Dr. Dobson,” Andrew says, clutching his counselor’s note. “You?” 

“Back from Dr. Abby,” Aaron says. “Can we switch at recess?”

Andrew cocks his head to the side like Aaron does, and Aaron almost shivers, like he’s looking at a perfect mirror. “Sure,” is what he ends up with, before pivoting neatly and walking to Dr. Dobson’s office. 

“Okay,” Aaron says, looking at Andrew’s retreating back. “Bye.”

*

Andrew and Aaron were put into different homerooms so the teachers wouldn’t get confused, but they have the same recess periods. They don’t wear matching clothes, but they still mostly dress the same as any other boy in their class, in striped shirts and khaki shorts, so whenever Andrew or Aaron gets tired of their class, they can just switch shirts in the bathroom at recess and be each other for the rest of the day. 

Usually, nobody notices, and the rare times that Mr. Wymack figures it out, he seems more amused than anything else. The problem is, the weird kid can suddenly tell. 

“Seriously, where’s Andrew?” Neil says, poking Aaron’s arm. 

“Quit it,” Aaron says, slapping Neil’s hand away. Neil narrows his eyes, looking absolutely pigheaded. Aaron’s glad Andrew’s only pretending to be friends with this weirdo, because he seems like the worst. 

“Just tell me,” Neil says, his voice rising at the end. 

“Andrew, Neil, I don’t know how many times I’ve had to say it this week, but I’ll say it again, stop talking during class activities,” Mr. Wymack says, more tired than angry.

Aaron glares at Neil until he backs off. It’s weird that Andrew and Neil are apparently always talking. Probably always arguing. Neil is a jerk. 

They get a few minutes of group work, where Neil and Aaron are forced to add fractions together as a team. 

“Can you tell me where Andrew is now?” Neil asks for the seventeenth time since they started. 

“He’s in my class,” Aaron says, giving in, “because he hates you and he wanted to get away from you. Are you happy?” As soon as Aaron says it, he knows it’s a mistake. Neil’s eyes get really big, and his mouth drops open. Andrew specifically wanted to be friends with Neil for the plan, and Aaron probably just ruined it. Neil is super annoying and this is technically doing Andrew a favor, but he’s starting to feel bad about it. 

“That’s not true,” Neil says, his face screwed up like he’s about to cry or throw something. Aaron waits for the explosion, but Neil just shakes his head, pulling away from Aaron entirely, refocusing on his fractions. “It’s not true.”

Aaron glares at him before looking back at his own paper. He hasn’t learned this yet, even though Mr. Rhemann is usually ahead of Mr. Wymack. His class learns how to add fractions tomorrow. He looks at Neil’s paper, where half of the answers are done and boxed, and Neil is quickly filling in the rest. 

Dr. Abby calls this a dilemma, where you have to choose between two bad options, in this case asking Neil for the answers even though he just insulted him, or turning in a blank assignment. Aaron tries to weigh the pros and cons, but he has no idea how to get out of the corner he backed himself in. 

“Here,” Neil says, shoving his workbook at Aaron. “You can copy my answers even though you’re mean and terrible and you tried to lie to me about Andrew.” Aaron is so angry he almost forgets to say thank you. 

*

Andrew and Aaron usually reunite during carpool, when all of the other kids get picked up by parents. Nicky works during regular pick-up times, so Andrew and Aaron usually walk to the public library two streets down and stay there until Nicky can get them. Dan Wilds and Renee Walker are usually there too, but even though Andrew thinks Renee is cool, he never hangs out with them. Aaron doesn’t either, but that’s mostly out of solidarity, because Dan was really mean to Andrew about Matt, and technically it was Andrew’s fault but Matt didn’t have to eat all that candy. Besides, Aaron had been the real victim, because that was his candy that he was saving for later. 

Nicky told him what solidarity means a few weeks ago. 

“Listen, I get the whole solidarity thing, but honestly, if I see another straight woman try and frame herself as the center of the gay rights movement, I’m gonna have to do something drastic,” Nicky had said, almost in a sing-song voice, as he took the tamales out of the steamer. Andrew wasn’t in the kitchen with them, probably in his own room, reading Wikipedia articles in the dark on Nicky’s laptop. 

“Solidarity?” Aaron asked, sounding out each syllable carefully.

Nicky tilted his head as he considered the best way to frame it. “It’s like saying, I’m not you, but I stand with you,” he settled on.

Aaron nodded. “Like when you got custody of me and Andrew,” Aaron said finally and Nicky stilled, turned around and regarded Aaron quietly. “Because you’re not us, but you stood with us anyways,” Aaron filled in, unsure if he had done something wrong or not. 

“Not really,” Nicky finally said. “I’m one of you by now. We’re a team, Aaron Michael Minyard,” he said. Aaron sat quietly as Nicky dropped a few tamales on his plate. 

Aaron thinks that solidarity counts with him and Andrew. Even if sometimes people think they’re the same person, they’re not. They’re not, Aaron thinks with a sudden angry viciousness. 

“Hey,” Aaron says when Andrew walks up to him at the cluster of benches they always meet at. “Why didn’t you warn me about Neil?” 

“Why didn’t you warn me about Katelyn?” Andrew asks, visibly peeved. Aaron cocks his head to the side. “She figured out that I wasn’t you and asked me about it in the middle of math.”

“So did Neil,” Aaron hisses. “How did they know?” 

“I don’t know. Neil knew it wasn’t me?” Andrew wonders, something strange in his tone. 

“Yeah, and he wouldn’t stop bothering me about it. I don’t know how you can even pretend to be friends with him, he’s so annoying,” Aaron says. 

“Don’t worry about it. There’s only two days left, we just won’t switch until the end of school,” Andrew says. “Just expect Katelyn to ask you about it later.”

“Hey, Andrew,” Neil says, coming up behind Andrew and stepping into his view. 

“Hi,” Andrew says. 

“You left,” Neil says. “Why’d you leave?” 

“Aaron asked if I could switch with him at recess,” Andrew says, which was way more honest than Aaron expected. 

“Aaron said it was because you hate me,” Neil tattles like the baby he is. 

“I do hate you,” Andrew says blandly.

Aaron’s eyes widen, waiting for Neil to explode. 

“You could have told me,” is all Neil says, which feels so unfair. “I wouldn’t have told on you.” 

“I knew you wouldn’t tell on me, obviously,” Andrew says, and Neil actually smiles at that. “I just didn’t have time and I didn’t know if you would notice.” 

“Of course I noticed, you’re completely different from each other.”

Aaron and Andrew both furrow their brows at him for that statement.

“I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow?” Neil aims that at Andrew, and Andrew nods. Neil smiles again. “Okay, bye Andrew.”

Aaron hates him for real. Neil jogs over to one of the cars in the carpool line, a small expensive-looking model. The windows are darkly tinted, and Neil disappears from view as soon as he gets into the car. 

Aaron watches Andrew watch the car drive away until it’s entirely out of view. “Can we go now?” he asks, and takes pleasure in watching Andrew startle. 

“Fine,” Andrew says. 

*

Aaron loves the library. He loves every library in the whole world, but specifically the one in Columbia. Aaron used to spend hours every day in the public library in Oakland, reading in the back with all of the worn beanbags and children’s books. Sometimes his mom would leave him there overnight, and he would pretend he was having a sleepover with all of the characters after hiding from the security guards in the bathroom. 

Nicky hasn’t forgotten them once, but Aaron knows it’s only a matter of time. Children are easy to forget. 

The library in Columbia is massive, covering two whole floors with books. Andrew likes to sit in the fiction section and read chapter books, some thicker than Aaron’s thumb, or even Nicky’s thumb. Right now he’s reading all of the Percy Jackson series, and he has a lot of thoughts about which godly parent he and Aaron would have. Andrew is sure they’d be children of Hades, but Aaron wants Apollo. Either way, they agree that they’d both end up in Hermes, unclaimed. 

Aaron likes to get his books from the science sections. He loves the big books about anatomy and biology and astronomy. Last time they came, he had found a massive picture book of outer space, and he and Andrew had claimed entire galaxies for themselves, named stars after each other. Andrew felt a special affinity with the dwarf stars, and Aaron said it was because he was so short.

It wasn’t a great insult, just like every ugly joke, or yo mama joke. Too easy to get hit in the crossfire. 

A few weeks back, Andrew read a collection of Shakespeare for Kids, and late one night, recited all of Twelfth Night to Aaron. Being a twin seemed almost magical, in the story, like twins had a superpower to switch into each other’s skins.

Aaron sometimes thinks about how it could have gone, if Aaron had never run into Andrew for the first time at the library during the PALs mentor meeting. If he had never been a twin. 

Aaron had been reaching for the big dictionary at the front desk, trying to look up the meaning of the word ‘atonement’ when he turned and saw himself getting escorted into the library by a police officer. Aaron had stared, eyes and mouth open as his clone stomped hard on the officer’s toes and the officer just picked him off the ground and let his little legs dangle in the wind as they walked to the PAL meeting. 

Aaron had yelled his own name across the library, as stupid as that sounds now, and Andrew for whatever reason, had called his own name back, to the outrage of every librarian in the main room. The officer had looked over, looked back at Andrew, looked back at Aaron, and then things were a blur, as Aaron got his first ride in a police car to his mother’s house, next to a twin who kept poking him to see if he was real. 

That had been the initiating event for a terrifying few weeks. Uncle Luther and Aunt Maria had come over from South Carolina to help decide what was going to happen. On the night they arrived, Aaron’s mom had gotten into a car accident driving to the liquor store. She died on site. 

Andrew had met Luther and Maria and staunchly refused to go anywhere with them, pitching such a fit that the police officer he visited with called a background check on both of them. The officer, Officer Higgins, learned that they had a kid who was now living in Germany after emancipating from them at the age of seventeen. 

Higgins got in contact with Nicky, and after hearing the particulars of the situation, Nicky came back home immediately to take care of the twins in South Carolina. Aaron remembered Nicky as his favorite cousin, the only person in his family who paid attention to him and consistently asked after his health. With Aaron’s testimony, three months later, Andrew and Aaron were in a house in Columbia for all of them. 

Today, Andrew retreats to the Shakespeare section again and Aaron reads the science periodicals.

There’s other after school events that happen here, but Andrew’s too advanced for a lot of the ones in their age group, and Aaron doesn’t like arts and crafts, prefers to sit with his books and be left alone. 

Nicky grabs them around six, piling them into the car and chattering happily about his day. Aaron doesn’t fully get it, how Nicky can be so upbeat and energetic all the time. It’s like he’s running on different batteries than everyone else. 

“How was school today?” he finally asks, pausing for breath. He used to ask early on, but he learned the hard way that Andrew hates to be questioned without being offered information first and Aaron needs a little bit to warm up to conversation. 

“Good,” Aaron says. “I learned how to add fractions and I said goodbye to Dr. Abby before summer starts.” 

“I guess the nurse counts as a friend for you, so I’m going to count that as a win,” Nicky says. Aaron considers saying what Dr. Abby said before dropping it. 

“I have a friend now,” Andrew offers, but his voice sounds ridiculous, filled with weird stresses and odd pauses. Nicky is totally gonna catch them in the lie. 

“Let me guess, Dr. Dobson counts as a friend now?” Nicky asks absentmindedly as he pulls into their driveway. 

“No,” Andrew says, but his voice is militant now.

Aaron puts his head in his hands. Andrew has a policy about lying and talking: Andrew doesn’t lie, but if you don’t believe him, he doesn’t talk either. Nicky’s comment has guaranteed an evening’s worth of silence from Andrew, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but is counter-productive. 

“His name is Neil,” Aaron says, sticking out his tongue when Andrew glares at him. 

“Wait,” Nicky says as he parks in the garage and they move into the kitchen. “Are you serious? A friend?” 

“Yeah,” Aaron says. “He’s in Andrew’s class.” 

Nicky actually holds onto the counter for support, his eyes getting over-bright and full. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, visibly getting control of himself. Aaron feels excruciatingly uncomfortable. Andrew just stares into middle distance, still trapped in his sulk. 

“Well,” Nicky finally says, voice tremulous. “Can you tell me about him?”

Andrew stares at his fingernails. Aaron suddenly wants to hit his brother for being so mean when Nicky is just trying his hardest. Then again, Nicky is a stranger to Andrew. Why should Andrew give him the benefit of the doubt? 

“He’s good at math,” Andrew finally says. “And he’s the fastest runner in the grade.”

Nicky blinks a couple times. “He sounds very normal,” he offers weakly. 

“He’s not, he’s the weird kid,” Aaron chimes in quickly, because he’s not gonna let Nicky think Neil is a normal person when he’s an alien sent to torment Aaron and ruin his life. 

“He is technically the weird kid,” Andrew concedes. 

“That’s not a problem,” Nicky says cheerfully, apparently a lot happier about the weirdness . “I was the weird kid for a while and I’m excellent.”

Nobody responds to that.

Nicky, never daunted, asks “Would you want to invite him over tomorrow or something before school ends?” 

“No,” Andrew says after a second of hesitation. Aaron narrows his eyes. “His uncle doesn’t let him have play dates, and it’s a sore subject with him.”

“Hm,” Nicky responds, a considering light in his eyes. “That’s a shame.” 

“Yes,” Andrew says, furrowing his brows. “It is.” 

*

That night, Aaron slips out of his room and knocks furtively at Andrew’s door.

Andrew’s only request when Nicky asked what kind of room he wanted was “one that locks from the inside.” For once in his life, Nicky didn’t ask questions, just took Andrew shopping for a lock that he liked and had it installed the next day. It was the turning point in their relationship, even though they’re still not super close yet. 

Andrew pulls the door open but doesn’t give Aaron space to come in. “What do you want?” he asks, his hair sticking up on the sides, probably sleeping before Aaron came over. 

“Let me in, I gotta talk to you,” Aaron says. Andrew stares stone-faced, before shifting just enough to let Aaron inside. 

Andrew’s room is mostly plain, not showing many traces of Andrew’s personality. The bed is shoved up against one of the walls and there’s two stacks of library books on the bare desk, one to return and one to read. The bed is unmade, but that’s probably because Andrew just got out of it. 

Aaron doesn’t go into Andrew’s room a lot. Andrew hates having people in his space, and Aaron doesn’t like being in empty rooms, so they usually spend time together in Aaron’s room. Some nights, when Aaron forgets where he is, Andrew will come over and recite stories he’s memorized to put Aaron to sleep. Other nights, Aaron will decide they’re pirates and Andrew will recite horrible facts about pirates until Aaron doesn’t want to play anymore and kicks him out. It’s hit or miss. 

“You said you wanted to talk to me,” Andrew says. 

“Why did you hesitate at dinner?” Aaron asks.

Andrew furrows his brows together, but doesn’t pretend to not know what Aaron is talking about. “I didn’t want to lie,” he finally says. 

“You don’t want people to come over, that’s not a lie,” Aaron says. Andrew stays quiet. “Oh no. Andrew, no.” 

“Shut up,” Andrew says. 

“It always goes so badly!” Aaron says. 

“Shh,” Andrew hisses harshly. “You’ll wake up Nicky.”

“Nicky can and will sleep through the apocalypse,” Aaron scoffs. “Do you want the same thing that happened with Matt to happen with Neil?” 

“No,” Andrew says, something stubborn in the set of his jaw. “Neil doesn’t even like candy,” he mutters.

“That’s not the point,” Aaron says. “We mess this stuff up, Andrew.” 

Andrew is silent, but Aaron knows why. They do mess things up. They don’t get along with other kids, don’t understand how they work. Nicky used to be a weird kid, but even he wasn’t like they are, all twisty and strange on the inside. They were born together because nobody else would want to stick with them. 

“Do you want to break our pact?” Aaron finally asks, and Andrew, after a minute, shakes his head no. 

“I’m tired,” Andrew says, looking pointedly at the door. Aaron was considering asking for a story, but clearly it’s not a good night for that. 

On the way back to his room, Aaron hears a voice from Nicky’s room. 

“—never thought that it would happen. I honestly gave up, but he made a friend and the friend isn’t imaginary.” 

Aaron presses his ear against the door. He’s probably talking to Erik. 

“I know he’s a normal kid, but his life has been so hard for so long and I was so worried it would just be like that for the rest of his life,” Nicky continues. 

The funny thing is, if Neil hadn’t been mentioned today, it would have been impossible to tell which twin he was talking about. 

“I was just waiting and waiting for any sign of healing and now it’s here,” Nicky says, and his voice breaks a little at the end. 

Aaron suddenly feels choked and hot, so he leaves to his own room with his stupid astronaut lamp and the stars on the ceiling and resolutely doesn’t think about anything at all. 

*

Andrew doesn’t say much the next morning, but he never really does. Aaron also eats his pancakes silently. Nicky, however, is in uncharacteristically high spirits, dancing in the kitchen, chattering happily about nothing in particular.

Aaron deeply underestimated how worried Nicky was about the two of them and their isolation. Watching Nicky try and fail to pull off Fortnite dances as he sprinkles chocolate chips into the pancake batter is proof. 

“I was thinking, it’s the last day of school for you guys, so I asked my boss if I could get the afternoon off, and pick you up on time,” Nicky says, putting Andrew’s fourth pancake on his plate. Andrew doesn’t smile but he does a happy kind of bounce when he sees the chocolate chips have been arranged into a frowny face. 

“That’d be okay,” Aaron says, voice subdued. Nicky doesn’t pick up on any of it, just cheers and turns up the radio.

They make it to school in one piece, despite all of Nicky’s efforts to the contrary, and Andrew walks straight towards Neil as soon as he gets out of the car, not even stopping to say bye to Aaron on his way out. Aaron watches him go, sticking his tongue out at Neil when he looks back. Neil glares back, only stopping when Andrew grabs him by the arm and tugs him to their homeroom. They’ll probably meet up with Kevin in class and the three of them will have fun and forget all about Aaron, who’ll be sitting between a girl who can’t stand him and another girl who can’t talk to him. 

Fun. 

Aaron starts to walk to his classroom, but out of nowhere, someone grabs his arm. He flinches instinctively from the grip before turning guiltily. 

“Do you not like it when people grab your arm?” Katelyn asks, letting go of him immediately. Her head is cocked to the side and there’s not a trace of a blush on her face. If Aaron didn’t know better, he’d think this was Katelyn’s long-lost twin. 

“Not really,” Aaron replies. She nods seriously. Then the blush spreads across her face. 

“Sorry I just grabbed you, I didn’t mean to,” she starts to babble, but Aaron isn’t really in a mood for it. 

“Why aren’t you already in class?” Aaron asks. “You’re always here early.” 

“Other dad dropped me off today,” she explains, her babbling cut short by Aaron’s curt question. She starts moving towards class, and Aaron follows her there. “Most days, teacher dad brings me to school, but since today is the last day of the year, I got to sleep in!” 

“That’s cool,” Aaron says. “Are you usually weird because you don’t get much sleep?” 

Katelyn freezes in the middle of the hall. Her face turns bright red like a stop sign. “You think I’m weird?” she asks, in a trembling voice. 

“Yeah,” Aaron says, squirming, “but not in a bad way. I’m weird too.” She just stares at him, and Aaron feels a sinking sensation he used to feel all the time in Oakland. “I didn’t mean to be mean, it’s just every time I’ve tried to talk to you, you start blushing and you don’t talk to me, and I don’t know what that means, I don’t think you’re mean or anything, I’m really sorry.” 

“I blushed because I have a crush on you, dingus!” Katelyn says loudly. “How did you not pick that up! I did all the girl things to let you know!” She starts off down the hall, and Aaron follows her again. 

“What does that even mean?” Aaron asks plaintively. “What girl things?” 

“Everybody knows if a girl has a crush on you, she won’t talk to you, and she’ll run off if you try, and she’ll blush a lot, and she’ll be really dumb!” 

“That’s not true,” Aaron says. “Nobody knows that.” She cocks her head to the side and narrows her eyes. 

“Really?” she asks. 

“Yeah. And also, if you were trying that, it wouldn’t have worked, because I know you’re smarter than me. That’s why I’m always asking you for help in math.” She frowns. 

“So you really didn’t know I had a crush on you?” she asks. 

“Not really, but now it kinda makes sense,” Aaron says, his face suddenly very hot. He scuffs the toe of his sneaker on the linoleum. 

“And you think I’m smarter than you,” she says, as if she’s confirming things on a list. 

“Yeah,” he says, and he feels even more awkward and blushy about that, because he’s really good at the science stuff, but she’s better than him in that too. 

“Hm.” 

“Hm?” Aaron asks. “What does hm mean?” 

“It means I have to rethink my whole strategy,” Katelyn says. 

“What strategy?” Aaron asks, but at that point they’d reached their classroom. 

“I’ll tell you at recess,” she says. “You owe me an explanation there anyways, your brother said you did.” 

With that, she collapses in her chair and faces her Teacher Dad. 

*

Aaron has the most fun in class he’s had all year. Katelyn has apparently decided that she doesn’t have a crush on Aaron anymore, which makes him feel a little bit upset, but it’s a good trade because now they’re friends. 

Katelyn passes him little notes during class. Usually she wouldn’t dare, but they’re not even learning anything because it’s the last day. The notes don’t say anything important, just  Hi there :) and  we shouldn’t be passing notes but dad doesn’t even notice, watch he won’t notice this :P. Aaron makes funny faces every time Mr. Rhemann’s head is turned, marking down a point on a score sheet every time he can make her giggle out loud without being caught. A little part of Aaron is upset that he’s only just now made his first friend when school is almost out. 

At recess, Katelyn pulls him to the roly-poly corner and interrogates him about how he switches places with Andrew. 

“We get tired of people really easily, so it’s easier to switch places midday. We don’t have any friends, so we don’t usually get caught. Switching helps us in classwork too. Our class is usually one day ahead, but Andrew’s really smart and gets really bored, so he just teaches himself the new stuff, and I get an extra day of review when I don't understand something the first time around. Then, Andrew teaches me what I missed at home.” 

“You don’t have any friends?” Katelyn asks. Aaron shakes his head no. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“We’re the weird kids,” Aaron says. 

“No, you’re not. Neil Josten is the weird kid. You’re the most popular boy in our class and Andrew is the most athletic boy in the grade,” Katelyn says, in a very matter of fact way. 

“What?” 

“You have the best grades,” Katelyn explains very patiently, “you’re good at sports, you don’t talk much or make gross jokes, and you’re nice to the teachers and the nurse. Every girl in class has a crush on you.” 

“Really?” Aaron asks, still very confused. 

“Yeah. Except for Dan Wilds. Everyone knows that she really likes Matt Boyd, even though she says he has cooties. Cooties don’t even exist. You’re just really shy, so nobody knows how to talk to you. You don’t talk to anyone other than your brother,” Katelyn says, off-hand, as she gently scoops a roly-poly into the palm of her hand. 

“I talk to you,” Aaron says. She blushes a little bit at that. 

“That doesn’t count,” she says. 

“Also, I don’t have the best grades, you do,” Aaron says. 

“That’s because my dad is the teacher, dummy,” she says, bopping him on the head. He feels like he should be a little offended, but she just said every girl in the class has a crush on him, so he’s okay with it actually. 

“But we made Matt Boyd throw up,” Aaron argues weakly. 

“Everyone knows Matt Boyd gets crazy around candy,” she says in a very matter-of-fact way. “He ate an entire bag of Hershey’s in thirty minutes on Halloween. It was horrible.” 

“It _was_ pretty horrible,” Aaron agrees. 

“Anyways. I don’t think any girls like Andrew, because he’s kinda mean to girls when they try and talk to him. Except Renee Walker. Apparently she punched him in the face once, and he thought it was the coolest thing ever.” 

“She didn’t mean to hit him, she was just trying to show him how to throw a punch because she’s taking boxing lessons, but he got in the way. He did think it was the coolest thing ever though.” 

“Of course he did, Renee is the coolest person ever,” she says in a matter-of-fact way. “Anyways, Andrew’s still pretty popular because he’s athletic. The most athletic boys in the grade are Andrew, Kevin Day, Neil Josten, Matt Boyd and Jeremy Knox. Andrew’s friends with three fifths of them, which is more than half of them, and he had a playdate with another fifth. Also he’s a twin, and twins are always cool.” 

“Oh. I didn’t realize Andrew had that many friends,” Aaron says. He knew about all of them individually, but all in a list, it seems a little like Andrew really is very popular. 

“He would have more, but whenever people ask him if he wants to have a playdate, he always says he’d rather just hang out with you,” Katelyn says, before offering Aaron the roly-poly in her hands. He reaches out, and lets her deposit the little wriggler on his hand. It rolls into a tight little ball, but Aaron holds his hand very still, and eventually he starts to crawl around in the new territory. 

“It tickles,” Aaron says quietly, and she beams and nods. 

*

At carpool, Katelyn joins him outside, because “Other dad is going to take me to the Cheesecake Factory for a school’s out celebration while Teacher dad finishes up his school work.” 

“Do you actually call them that?” Aaron asks. 

“No, they’re Dad and Pops, but the nicknames stuck when they started calling each other that when talking about carpooling times, so,” she finishes by shrugging. 

“I just have a cousin, so I just call him Nicky,” Aaron says, right before catching a glimpse of Nicky sitting on one of the benches, tapping on his phone while sipping something out of a Starbucks cup. “There he is right now actually.” 

Katelyn walks over with him, just as Andrew and Neil approach the same bench. It’s an absurd combination, the four kids and Nicky on the carpool benches. 

“Hey kids,” Nicky says, pocketing his phone and slurping on his strawberry-acai refresher obnoxiously. “How was the last day of school?” 

“Fine,” Andrew says. “This is Neil.” 

“Hello,” Neil says, putting out his hand to shake. “I’m Neil Josten, Andrew’s friend, and also the weird kid.” 

“Do you actually introduce yourself to people as the weird kid?” Nicky asks, reaching out to shake the little monster’s little hand. 

“It saves a lot of time,” Neil offers. 

Katelyn, not to be outdone, reaches her hand out as well. “I’m Katelyn Rhemann,” she announces. 

“Do you have a fun little descriptor too?” Nicky asks with a big smile on his face. 

“I’m a precocious young lady,” she says, “and I have a crush on Aaron.” Nicky smiles even wider as he shakes her hand. Aaron looks up at Andrew who is making a very funny face, and then looks down at his shoes. 

“That’s fun. Did you say your last name was Rhemann?” 

“Yeah, my dad is our teacher,” she says. 

“Oh, then I guess I was thinking about someone else,” Nicky says. “I work with another Rhemann-” 

“Hey Katie Kat,” Aaron hears. Katelyn turns around to face the speaker, before squealing and jumping into his arms. 

“Roland?” Nicky asks, standing up suddenly. 

“Nicky!” The other man puts Katelyn down, and reaches out to do a very complicated handshake with Nicky. 

“I didn’t know you had a kid here,” Nicky says. “I didn’t know you had a kid at all.” 

“Yeah, I’m married to a teacher here. I didn’t know you had a kid either.” 

“Two actually,” Nicky says, gesturing to Andrew, who is standing very still with Neil. Aaron can see the gears whirring in Andrew’s head as he tries to figure out exactly what is happening. Aaron, on the other hand, has given up entirely, and will wait for an explanation. 

“They look nothing like you,” Roland says, “but I guess that’s a good thing, huh?” 

“Rude and uncalled for. I’m their older cousin, I got custody of them earlier this year. Boys, this is Roland, but I guess you can call him Mr. Rhemann?” 

“No, please don’t, Roland is fine.” 

“Roland and I work together. He’s the manager at Eden’s,” Nicky explains. Aaron gets it now. Nicky works as an accountant for Eden’s Twilight, a grown-up club in Downtown. He usually works a normal daytime shift, but sometimes he gets called in late, and Andrew and Aaron get to play together in one of the back offices while Nicky deals with spreadsheets. 

“Roland, this is Andrew and this is Aaron,” Nicky says, pointing to them in turn. Andrew offers a weak smile. 

“Wait, this is Aaron?” Roland says. “Small world, Hemmick.” 

“Yeah, your precocious little girl let me know. Maybe we could arrange some kind of hangout? A first date for these crazy kids?” 

“Can we take Aaron to the Cheesecake Factory?” Katelyn asks. “Aaron, you’ll really like it, they give you slices of cheesecake as big as your head, and there are these balls of mac and cheese that get fried, and they taste really good.” Aaron would actually really like to go to the Cheesecake Factory, but he made a pact and he doesn’t want to break it. 

“I don't want to leave Andrew alone,” Aaron says, and Andrew looks surprisingly grateful. 

“I can hang out with Andrew,” Neil says, shocking everyone. 

“I thought your Uncle didn’t let you have playdates with people,” Andrew says, likely as confused as Aaron feels. 

“Oh, no, Uncle Stuart really wants me to go on playdates. He thinks I need friends badly because he’s afraid I’m developmentally stunted thanks to my terrible parents,” Neil carries on. “I just didn’t want to hang out with anyone, so I said he didn’t let me as an excuse. But I want to hang out with Andrew, so he’ll let me.” 

“Oh,” Nicky says, in the wake of Neil’s weirdness. “I guess that makes sense, in a twisted child logic kind of way.” 

“That’s pretty precocious,” Katelyn whispers. 

“So, if I wait for your uncle to show up and invite you over to our house, he’d let you come over?” Nicky asks. 

“I could call him, if you wanted,” Neil says, before making grabby hands at Nicky’s phone. Nicky hands it over without thinking, and Neil dials a number with his little kiddy hands, before speaking in what could be French, but could also be Italian or Spanish. He hands the phone back to Nicky who listens for a few seconds. 

“Okay then,” Nicky says, lowering his phone from his ear. “Looks like Neil is free to come over, so Aaron can go to the Cheesecake Factory. Maybe we could invite Kevin Day over too, make it a small school’s out party,” Nicky says, getting more and more excited by the concept as he talks. 

Aaron looks at Andrew, as they both reckon with the destruction of their pact. Andrew looks vaguely shellshocked, keeps stealing glances at Neil and blinking like he doesn’t understand what just happened. He doesn’t look upset though, and Aaron doesn’t feel upset either. The pact was made on false pretenses, based on the idea that Andrew and Aaron wouldn’t be able to figure any of this out. Instead, Andrew has a lot of friends, and Aaron’s been popular the whole time. They can do this. 

“Yeah, the Cheesecake Factory sounds good,” Aaron says. Andrew looks vaguely betrayed. “You guys will have a good time at the pool,” he continues. “I’ll catch up with you tonight, and we’ll tell each other everything.” 

Andrew’s face lightens slowly, and he nods once, so Aaron knows he’s not mad. They’re not leaving each other behind, they’re a team. They just also have other people and that’s okay. 

They’re okay. They’re going to be okay. 

“Sounds great,” Nicky cheers. “Oh I know, I’ll make kiddie margaritas and I’ll take you to the public pool, it’ll be so nice.” 

“Save some for me,” Aaron says. 

Andrew nods solemnly, reaching out his hand. “It’s a deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so grateful for Leah for giving me this prompt, because this story was such a joy to write. 
> 
> If you enjoyed it, leave a kudos, and maybe consider letting me know what you enjoyed in the comments below :)


End file.
